Dr Meei Yeung
Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgeon. MBBS, FRACS
Melbourne

Dr Yeung is a thyroid and parathyroid surgeon offering specialist care to endocrine patients in Melbourne focusing on the management of thyroid disease.

Specialist Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgeon

Dr Yeung is one of a small number of thyroid surgeons in Melbourne dedicated exclusively to the sub-specialty of endocrine surgery. She has trained in the latest techniques of minimal access thyroidectomy (MAT) and minimally invasive parathyroidectomy (MIP). This is in addition to the most current surgery of thyroid diseases, thyroid cancers including neck dissections, and redo thyroid surgery.
Dr Yeung is a known gap provider.

Training

Having completed her training in General Surgery with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2004, Dr Yeung then spent 2 years of post fellowship training in Sydney, with a focus specifically on Endocrine Surgery. She returned to Melbourne in early 2007 and started practice in the Endocrine Surgery Unit at The Alfred Hospital. Dr Yeung also consults in Melbourne CBD, Brighton, Berwick and Mooroolbark. She has operating privileges at Cabrini Health and Epworth Freemasons Hospitals.

Accreditation

Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

Member of the Australian Endocrine Surgeons

Member of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons

Member of the American Thyroid Association

Member of the International Association of Endocrine Surgeons

Endocrine surgery is a medical specialty focusing solely on the surgical management of thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal disease.

Thyroid disorders

Thyroid diseases can be divided into those which affect the thyroid function (hormonal imbalance), those which affect the physical aspect of the thyroid (e.g. nodules, goitres) and occasionally both (e.g. a toxic multinodular goitre).

As a Thyroid Surgeon, Dr Yeung treats these disorders surgically, i.e. removal of the thyroid gland or half of it (hemithyroid). Occasionally a patient may have had a previous thyroid operation and require additional surgery – a “re-do” operation. This can be technically more challenging due to potential scar tissue that may have formed following the initial operation, distorting the anatomy. Dr Yeung is highly trained, and has the skills required to perform this type of thyroid surgery.

Thyroid cancers

Thyroid cancers are rare, but have been increasing in their incidence. This is thought to be in part due to the increase use of thyroid ultrasound and the identification of thyroid nodules that were previously undetectable on physical examination. The most common type of thyroid cancer is papillary thyroid cancer and is generally highly treatable with a very good prognosis. Dr Yeung has been trained to surgically treat all forms of thyroid cancers, including neck dissections.

Parathyroid disorders

The most common type of parathyroid disease is primary hyperparathyroidism. This is where, most commonly, a single parathyroid gland has developed a benign tumour and is secreting excess levels of parathyroid hormone, causing the calcium levels to rise abnormally.

We now have very good imaging modalities which can usually identify which of the four parathyroid glands is the abnormal one. This allows a “minimally invasive parathyroidectomy (MIP)” to be performed. Occasionally the scans are unable to, or incorrectly identify the abnormal gland and a more traditional “open bilateral neck exploration” is required. Dr Yeung has been trained to perform both of these techniques.